Before She Leaves, One More Goodbye
by MeredithBrody
Summary: Erika leaves for the Republic in the morning, but does Jon have time for one last goodbye. (SassCaptains, 2150)


**Because I'm procrastinating on rewatching "Broken Bow" I needed a random thing to write for tonight's "Nightly Sprint" on Facebook. This was what came out of it. Sorry I'm not sorry.**

**Shin xx**

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An hour earlier he'd ignored the comm. It hadn't been malicious, or because he hadn't wanted to speak to her, but it was because the pain that spiked in him when he realised that she'd be gone now, and she wouldn't be able to comfort him if he needed it. Right now he wished he hadn't ignored it. Because he'd given anything for just one moment with her. "If only I'd just gone over when she called." He grumbled, and he felt a cushion hit the back of his head.

"What would you have done, Jonathan?" His best friend was the first one to say he and Erika should have gotten together, but he was also the first one to point out that now they had made a decision he needed to stick with it, no matter how it hurt. "Convince her to give up a good position so she could stay here and watch you leave in a few weeks."

There was no guarantee he and _Enterprise_ would only be stuck here a few weeks. They could be stuck longer, especially it the Vulcans got their fingers into it. "Or months, or years. You know what the Vulcans are like."

"Did you just want her to wait around Jonathan?" A.G. asked again, and it was an uncomfortable position. Of course he didn't just want Erika to have sat there with nothing to do and nothing to contribute. But he still wanted her there. "She was offered a good position, and you're her superior now. You can't be dating." Once again, A.G. was right. The irony was that A.G. didn't even believe that, he never had believed that. He'd always thought that what went on privately was just that, private. It was he and Erika who had insisted it was no longer appropriate.

He even believed that, or he had, until he'd had to lose someone he loved for it. "I know, and I hate that. It's a ridiculous rule." He pointed out the window and ended up getting himself maybe a little more animated than he normally would have. "She would help keep me on track, she always has up until now."

"Now you're a Captain though, and she isn't." Now Jon wasn't even sure what point A.G. was making. Things were different because he was in the command ranks? Was that really the argument being made to him right now.

"Why did she call me?" He gave up trying to work it out, and just tried to think through the things that would make sense. Only none of them made sense in a universe where he and Erika were no longer together.

"She wanted to say goodbye before she left." A.G. said quietly, which made him think that maybe Erika's call wasn't as spontaneous as he was assuming. What if she'd thought and agonised over making this decision, over telling him a real goodbye. He was about to theorise more on it when A.G. started speaking again. "She knows how hard this is for you Jon. She's not stupid, but she does have to protect herself."

If A.G. was in his position, if the woman he loved with all his heart was about to willingly walk away because of an arcane rule that shouldn't even matter, would he step aside. "What if Ruby was in Starfleet, would you have fought for her."

"The situations aren't even remotely similar Jon. I'm not commanding the 01, and she's not in Starfleet." Maybe that was better. If he and Erika hadn't both been in Starfleet, they wouldn't be feeling like this. He'd still have his partner with him, and they wouldn't even be thinking about any of this, only they were both in Starfleet, and they were having to face this ridiculous situation. "If she and I were in the same position, I'd do what I needed to do. It's not forever Jon."

Maybe not, but even an hour felt like an eternity right now. "It feels like it's forever."

"One day, Erika will have her own command, and you'll find each other." That was a typically optimistic outlook on the situation from A.G., and Jon realised how much faith in them his friend clearly had. It wouldn't matter how long it took, they could be together again. "Just make sure I'm invited to the wedding."

"You'd be best man, what you talking about." He laughed, shaking his head. If there was ever a wedding between him and Erika, A.G. would be one side of aisle, and Veronica Fletcher would be the other. Both would be make fart jokes along the aisle too. He could picture it so clearly.

"She might still be here for tonight, you could probably make it over to hers, say goodbye." A.G. said suddenly, completely out of the blue, just before he was ready to give up for the night and go to bed, forget that anything was going to be happening in the morning.

How was he supposed to forget now. He could still say goodbye. "Why didn't you say that to begin with."

"Because I wanted to be sure you were doing this for the right reasons. Go say goodbye, but let her go Jon."

He grinned then ran out of the apartment. Thankfully A.G. didn't live all that far away from the apartment he and Erika had shared until just a week earlier. As soon as he got there he pressed the buzzer a few times then stepped back and shouted in the direction of her window. "Erika! Are you still here."

"Jonathan?" Came a shout a second later, and she stuck her head out of the window, looking down at him with a huge amount of confusion evident on her face

All he could do was apologise. Say he was sorry and hope she'd forgive him. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier, I thought _Republic_ had left."

"We leave in the morning." She commented, and he wondered how he could tell her that he didn't care about that without it coming out too rudely.

"I just wanted to tell you that I can wait. As long as it takes, I can wait. Just promise me that at the end of it we'll get a chance."

She held her finger up and shouted out of the window just four more words. "Hold on one minute."

As soon as she was out the front door he realised she was in her blues and nothing else. "You'll freeze." He commented, and made to take his jacked off until she shook her head. Maybe she would just run back upstairs as soon as they were done. He didn't want her to be too cold. Not now.

"We'll have a chance Jonathan." She kissed his cheek and then whispered into his ear quietly the last half of her statement, and he'd never heard better words spoken. "I promise. I love you."

He couldn't help but wrap his arms around her tightly and kiss her as hard as he ever had. This was it, the last time he'd hold her, at least for the forseeable future. He wanted to memorise it. "I love you. I'll see you soon."

"Not too soon. Go be a hero Jonathan, wherever you are, I'm right there with you." She stepped up and kissed him one more time, then turned and ran back into her apartment. He couldn't blame her, it was cold here and they really shouldn't be together, it was just going to make it harder. The problem was he wished he could hold her just one more time. Until the next time.


End file.
